Daddy's Home
by Fallen Ark Angel
Summary: What's greater than winning the Royal Rumble and the WWE World Heavyweight Championship? Getting to tell your kids about it, obviously. - One-shot, set following the 2016 Royal Rumble.


"I'm dead. Don't wake me again. Just let me die."

"If you're already dead," Steph sighed as she shut the hotel room door behind them, her husband only going to fall into bed after dropping his bags, "then you can't die. So it doesn't matter what I-"

"Shuddup," he mumbled against a pillow. "Stephanie."

"You know," she said, flicking on a light in there, "you can't die on us tonight anyways."

"Us?"

"WWE. Our champ can't die before he even makes his first appearance after the PPV. That wouldn't be kosher."

"I ain't exactly tryin' to, you know."

"I know." She was heading into the bathroom. "You gonna sleep in your clothes, babe?"

Grunt.

"Because you really shouldn't."

"Undress me."

"Now there's the Triple H I know after winning a title."

Rolling onto his back, he blinked up at the ceiling. "I mean, I won't die before a blow, if that's what you're hinting to."

"I wasn't, but here we are."

"Here we are." Tilting his head up a bit, he said, "Why are you in there though? When I'm in here? You're not being very attentive, you know."

"I'm getting ready for bed. And you got a chance to wash off after your match."

"After your father and you bombarded me for photos?"

"You knew it was coming."

"Hn."

They stopped talking for a bit. Steph shut the bathroom door and Paul must have dozed off for a bit, because it was to her climbing into bed that he awoke. Letting out a breath through his nose as he blinked sleepily at her, Paul didn't even manage a smile.

Just stared.

"Darn." Steph was settling on her side beside him. "I was gonna wake you up with that blow."

He was able to do more than stare then.

"Bullshit."

He was able to call her out.

That got a laugh, but a soft one. She'd turned out the light, before getting into bed, and they were alone, other than the glow from her cell, across the room, where she'd plugged it into the charger on the desk.

"I was gonna let you sleep. Or try to. Because I still do need do this."

"Mmmm." He shifted a bit as she started, as she'd said she would before, undressing him. "I like this."

"I know you do." She tried to stifle a yawn before asking, "You know what else you'll like?"

"What, baby?"

"I- Oh, I almost forgot."

"What?" He glared as she rushed out of bed suddenly, right in the middle of pulling his pants off. Not moving to do it himself (he wanted her to get back over there and do it, as was promised to him). "Stephanie-"

"You were busy when I got the text," she was saying as he pushed up on his elbows, glaring over at her. "And I know you don't check your phone-"

"I check my phone."

"Then you've seen it?"

"...Yes."

"Paul-"

"What is it?" he gave in, not even moving to pull his phone about of his own pocket. Of the pants, which, at the moment, were down to his knees. "Steph."

"Mmmm. Here." Coming back over to the bed, she couldn't stifle the yawn that time and did so quite loudly, blushing from it as she leaned over to hand her husband her cell. "Isn't that so cute?"

It was a video. Not one that was playing, yet, but just from the still on the phone's screen he could tell it was of his living room, back home. When he pressed play, he could immediately hear the sounds of the PPV from the television, but the phone camera wasn't focused on there. Rather, it was on the couch, where his oldest seemed to be the only child still up, as she was alone on the couch, staring almost absently at the television.

Paul was rather tired from the day, but it didn't take him long to realize what was going on. And, with a grin to Steph, who of course returned it and nodded at the phone, as if to get him to focus more on that, he stared intently at the video, watching the scene unfold.

Aurora actually didn't seem to notice that she was being filmed by, no doubt, one of the girls' nannies as the woman stood behind the couch and she was (at least somewhat) concerned with what was going happening on the television.

He kind of knew the feeling. Rumbles were long. Especially by the end. It was easy to lose interest in its setup.

"Who's gonna be number 30?" the woman holding the phone asked Aurora and the girl hardly even glanced up, shrugging a bit. It wasn't like the Rumble was wholly boring (at least he hoped), as Reigns was still in there since the beginning and that was always cool. Plus some damn good guys were in there, so he figured she was at least somewhat interested.

The AJ arrival would be enough to tide most viewers over.

As she was sitting there though, Aurora kind of seemed bored.

Or tired.

It was kind of late for her. And on a school night.

Yeah, she was probably just tired.

The countdown was going then, for the final entrant and, as Reigns stood over the other guys in the ring, staring up at the stage, Paul's music went off.

That got her up.

Aurora bounced a bit, on the couch, glancing back at her nanny before at the screen.

"He didn't say he'd be here," she told the woman excitedly as she became very intent with staring at the screen. "Is he gonna win?"

Her nanny only told her that she didn't know and then the video cut.

"There's another one," Steph was saying. "Of when you win. She-"

"I got it." He wouldn't let her take the phone from him when she tried. "Seriously."

Steph giggled at the intense gaze he had going as he swiped a finger across the screen, pulling up the next video.

"I think it starts right about when you're going to eliminate Am-"

"Shut up, Steph." He was shifting then, on the bed, watching the screen, turning up the volume as well. Aurora was standing then, instead of sitting on the couch, and was jumping up and down, as he was so close. So close.

And then it happened. He flipped Dean off him and there it was.

Triple H had won.

And Aurora was yelling too, trying to talk at the same time to her nanny who was laughing and videoing her freak out.

"I think she woke up Murphy," Steph whispered, softer that time since he'd shushed her before. "You can hear her, I think in the background."

"You wanna say anything to your dad?" the nanny was asking then, Aurora having noticed then that she was being filmed. "I'm gonna send this to him and your mother."

Of course. She had a lot to say. Rushing over, she even took the phone so that she could speak directly to it, though she was frequently distracted by his celebration on the screen.

The video cut, eventually, as it sounded like she had woken one of her sisters as one of them came into the room, asking what was going on, but that was okay. Paul only immediately moved to play it again.

"I need to charge this," Steph said, snatching the phone from him instead. When he glared, she only giggled before saying, "It's on yours too, you know. If you'd ever check your messages."

He slipped his own pants off then, finally, just so that he could get at his phone and see the videos again. To his wife, he asked, "How did you forget to show this to me?"

"Uh, try because I had a business that I was busy running." Glancing over her shoulder as she checked her email one last time, she said, "You're the one that doesn't even look at messages, apparently, from the people that are looking after your children."

"If something was wrong, you'dda gotten a message and told me what was up. You're constantly on your phone."

"Rude."

But he wasn't interested in play fighting with her any longer. When he laughed a bit, she looked over at the man once more, not shocked to find him staring heavily at his cell as he laid on his back, holding it over his face.

"She was so surprised," he grinned to himself. Still, his wife answered.

"We knew she would be. That's why we didn't tell her."

"I know, but it's so perfect. This is my favorite thing."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"More than your flashy little belt you were carting around?"

"You know, babe," he remarked as she finally came to join him in bed once more, "one of these days you're going to ask me something like that and I'm gonna shock you by saying yes, something is more important than my kids."

"But not tonight."

"Definitely not."

Lying there with him, she watched his face more than the phone, giving him a moment or so before saying, "You know, Daddy, there is more."

"What do you mean?" The first video was finishing then and he moved to start the second. "Steph?"

"You got a third text. Didn't you? I know I did. But then, I always check my messages, so-"

"I saw it. Didn't look at it." He was into the video then, smiling far more openly that he would, were they not alone. "Figured it was just one of the normal 'They're all in bed now' texts."

"Well, it's not."

Interest piqued, Paul got out of the video and went back to his messages. The second he pulled it up, he found a photo of his home desk. Sitting in the very middle of it was a very neatly folded sheet of paper, with the very loopy and girlish handwriting of his older daughter in the center of it, with only one word on there.

 _Dad_

"What is this?"

"She wrote you a letter," Steph said as he frowned at the screen. "Before she went to bed. Ugh, I'm so glad we're not going to be with them in the morning tomorrow because I bet she's gonna be-"

"Where's the next picture?"

"What?'

"Of the actual letter." Paul was shifting to sit up then and check through his messages again. "What she wrote; where's that?"

"You don't have it."

"Then do you?"

"No."

"What? Stephanie-"

"You get to read it when you get home, silly."

"What? That's not-"

"Something to look forward to."

"I won't be home for days," he griped, giving her a frown. "You get that, right? We have RAW tomorrow and then Smackdown. How am I supposed to look forward to something for days?"

"That's how looking forward to things works, babe."

"I'm just in Florida," he remarked then as, annoyed with his phone, he tossed it to the bed, not even going back to finish the second video once more. "I could go down there and get it. If I really wanted to."

"You'd fly to-"

"Yes."

"Paul-"

"Maybe I can just get a photo sent to me." He rolled onto his side. "I'll text-"

"If I know our daughter like I think I do-"

"Not nearly as well as me, but go on."

"Then there's a very strong chance that on the other side of where she wrote your name, she probably put some stickers over the fold."

Which he knew was probably true. Aurora actually wrote him lots of notes. Err, well, wrote them, he and Steph, lots of them. They usually weren't that big of a deal. She liked to write things down. It was easier for her to express things that way, Steph said. She'd fold up the notebook paper, always putting one of her little stickers over the flap, mimicking a seal.

It was super cute.

But at the moment annoying.

"It can be pulled off without ripping it," he argued.

"But if it does get ripped? And she knows that you didn't wait to get home to read it?"

"...Then what? I mean, what difference would that make to her?"

That made Steph pause. Then she giggled. "Well, I don't know. It might make her upset though that you didn't wait-"

"That I couldn't wait, because I was so excited, that I had someone-"

"Is that it then?"

"Is what it?"

Stephanie had that glint in her eye as she laid on her side of the hotel bed, far too far away from him. Propping her head on one hand, she said, "You're totally not into it for the same reason I am."

"Into it?"

Nodding, she said, "I'm, like, so happy that Aurora was that excited and it was super cute and just a great family moment all documented out." Then, because she couldn't help, but to brag on herself a bit, Stephanie added, "And, of course, it was all plotted out by me-"

"Can we not? You know, listen to you talk about yourself? Just this once?"

"Which brings me to my point."

"I'd love to hear it. Or at least get it over with."

"You," she accused, tossing up her other hand just to point a finger at him, "only want to get into that note because it strokes your ego. A whole bunch. Same reason you like that video."

"Do not."

"Do so."

Snorting, he fell onto his back once more. "Am I happy? That my daughter is proud of me and appreciated how cool that moment is? Yes."

"I believe you."

"Okay then."

"But you also like hearing how great you are. And you're hoping that she details it in that letter. Or else you wouldn't be so antsy to get at it."

Paul scoffed. Once. Twice. Then, turning his head to the side, he opened his mouth to speak before scoffing a third time. Glaring up at the ceiling instead of speaking, he listened to her giggles before saying, "I can enjoy both."

"I like when you pretend to be whatever I claim you to be." She shifted closer then. "I can say you want that note for any reason and you'd agree. You're such a good sport."

"You know me; always listening to McMahons."

"You are a little bit conceited though and probably do want it for that reason."

Scoff. That time though, it was followed up with, "You're just jealous."

"How am I jealous? I get to hear all the time from them about how great it is that I'm, like, this amazing businesswoman-"

"I hear you coaching them a bunch into saying that-"

"You're full of it."

"Unfair." He turned his head to the side again as, closer still, she reached a hand out to rest it on his cheek, stroking the fuzz growing all around. "You McMahons never play along with anyone's storylines, but your own."

"I don't need to bolster my image with my children by filling their heads with lies. Hunter though most certainly does."

"Oh?'

"Oh."

"Hmmm." Reaching down, he picked the phone up again before setting it on the nightstand. Then, looking to his wife, he said, "This is the weirdest after pay-per-view win celebration we've ever had."

"We never celebrate you winning. We know it's happening." She scratched some more at his chin. "We celebrate you being safe."

"I celebrate me winning. I'm conceited, remember?"

Hand stilling on his face, she only said, "You are kind of right though."

"Aren't I just?"

"I mean, you used to be in literally every pay-per-view."

"I didn't start fucking the boss's daughter for nothing."

"Every month, we'd basically force ourselves to stay awake after the pay-per-view, just to be together."

"Actually for you to suck me off, but whatever."

"Paul." And her hand fell from his face then so she could shove at him. "Honestly."

Grinning, he said, "I'd take your annoyance more seriously if you weren't smiling at me."

"I'm not smiling."

"Are too."

To remedy this, Steph shifted down the bed so that she could rest her head against his side, hand falling to lay over his heart then. "Prove it."

Paul only laughed though, lowly, before saying, "I'd have you bent over something in this room by this point. You have to admit that."

"I never denied it. I just protested you being so vulgar."

With a hum, he rested a hand over the one she had placed on his chest before saying, "We should at least do something. Right?"

"We have three days of being in hotel rooms. We can later."

"To celebrate my title though. Tonight."

"We did do something."

"What?"

"We watched Aurora's cute little video."

"Hn."

"We're just old now, baby."

"You're not old." Steph's breath was tickling his side a bit, but he was distracted by her fingers, which were gently stroking at his chest, his own not pressing down hard enough to stop them. Not that he wanted to. "I am."

"Hey, yeah, let's go with that."

"When I was younger, if you tried to get out of bed while you were undressing me, I'd have pounced on you and put whatever you were gonna do right out of your pretty little mind."

"But then you wouldn't have seen the video so soon."

"Not knowing I was missing it, I think I'd have lived." His chest rumbled a bit, but his chuckle was hardly audible. "It would have been there later. Not to mention the young me had no kids. Therefore, no video. Just me giving my wife what we both want."

"Would want."

"Whatever."

Tilting her head back, she stared up at him as she said, "Did you really wanna do something tonight? 'cause we can."

"You're about to conk out and you know."

"I can do both."

"Oh?"

With a nod, her head fell back to resting against his side. "It's not a compliment, babe."

Reworking what she said in his head, Paul released this and made a face. "This is how you treat your champion, Steph?"

"Is this how you treat your queen?"

"What am I doing that so bad to you?"

"I second the question for myself."

"You just said that sex with me is so boring that you sleep through it."

"I never said boring. And I said that I _could_ sleep through it, should I so choose." Steph pressed a kiss to his side before breathing softly against his flesh, "Besides, admit it, you're not anymore up for anything, but sleep than I am."

"I admit nothing."

"Silence says more anyways."

Which they both got then as they settled down. Paul eventually gave her his back, but that was fine, because she was shifting to give him hers and, for a long time, they were both comfortable.

"Someone has a phone call."

Until Steph shook him awake at about seven in the morning, holding out one of the cells to him.

"Wha'?" he mumbled sleepily, but the phone was on speaker and the second his voice was audible, he had more to deal with than just his main woman.

"Hi, Daddy!"

"Did you really win?"

"Can I skip school today?"

He had his three other ones to contend with.

As Paul groaned and sat up, Steph giggled before she left him there, on the bed, with the phone, as she went off into the bathroom. Rubbing at an eye with one hand, he held the cell in the other.

"Hi, Rora," he yawned tiredly. "Yes, Vaughn. No, Murph."

"But I don't wanna go!"

"Did you cheat?"

"I wrote you a letter."

They were killing him. Honestly.

Who thought that speaker phone was a good function?

And why the heck were they all so dang chipper at seven in the morning?

"It doesn't matter, Murph," he sighed. "And no, Vaughn, I didn't. I never do. Thank you, Rora. I saw it."

"How?"

"I wanna go see you at RAW with your title!"

"Are _sure_ you didn't cheat?"

"I got a picture of it on my phone, Aurora. You have to go to school, Murph. And Vaughn, why do you keep asking that?"

He'd calmed the other two (or they were busy then with something else) as he only heard only his youngest say then, "You do it a lot."

Snorting, he said, "Don't you have school to be getting ready for? All of you?"

"We're eating breakfast," he heard his oldest say. "And wanted to call you."

"Since you won," Murphy agreed.

"And without cheating?" This was very concerning to his baby, for some reason. "Daddy?"

"Why don't you watch it? Huh?" he grumbled. "If you don't believe me?"

"You made me go to bed! I couldn't watch it!"

"I didn't make you. I wasn't there."

"You made the rule," his middle daughter pointed out.

"Don't you know by now? Your mother makes all the rules."

His girls accepted this in silence because, actually, it sounded just about right.

"I'll call you guys again, okay?" Paul frowned over at the digital clock that sat on a nightstand by the bed. "After school. Be good."

Hanging up from his kids didn't mean, apparently, that he was allowed to go back to sleep, as Steph was coming into the room then, all dressed and ready to go somewhere. Not work, as she wasn't wearing any of her professional attire, but she'd changed out of what she wore to bed, at least.

"You wanna come with me to get breakfast?"

"Stephanie," he complained as he tossed his phone to the side and threw an arm over his eyes. "We had to do a damn pay-per-view last night and then drive three hours from Orlando to get here. No, I don't want to get breakfast at seven in the morning. I got less than four hours of sleep."

"You're normally not such a baby about these things."

"I'm normally not in matches anymore."

"That was hardly a match."

"Bullshit."

"You know," she said as she only went to pick up his phone and, finally, hook it onto a charger, "for all that talk about how, back in the day, we'd have stayed up the rest of the night partying, you sure are copping out on me now."

"This is what I'd do back then. I'd pass out about now and wake up for RAW in the afternoon."

"We'd go out and get something for breakfast first and then come back and crash."

"Yeah, well," he grumbled as she came back over to gently run a hand across his fuzzy head. "It's what you said before; I'm different now."

"Yeah." Steph gave him a grin. "You are, huh?"

Very, it felt like, at times, but not always in a horrible way. It was how different he was that led to him heading back home with Steph Wednesday morning instead of sticking around in Florida, where he'd only return, Thursday, for NXT.

He was going there, of course, to see his girls, even before he knew about the letter, but it was certainly what he was most stoked about getting home to see.

Other than their faces, of course.

And yeah, stupid Bluto, Steph's dog, too.

Still, when they arrived early that morning though late enough that the girls had already been carted off to school, the first place Paul headed was his office.

Steph, with an equally important goal in mind (though hers was every single time she was away), set out to find where Bluto was hiding in house. He could hear her calling out for the dog as well as talking in that high pitched baby voice when she found him somewhere upstairs (their bedroom, probably) all the way in the back hall downstairs, where his office was.

His woman was so obnoxious.

"Oh, wow, Rora," he grinned when he found that the note had, of course, been sealed with a sticker, but more importantly one of her special ones. He knew this immediately just from the design of the title belt the sticker had. She had some old sticker books and pads that she wouldn't let the other girls ever use because she had to keep them for the most important of occasions.

As he moved to try and pry it off slowly and gently, as not to rip the thing (maybe he could get some tape and tape it back to her sticker pad, so she could at least keep it), Paul muttered. "I guess I just had one of those occasions, huh?"

Falling into his desk chair, Paul grinned at the formality of the letter, from the way that she addressed him, at the head of the letter with _Dear Daddy_ as opposed to just, like, writing him a note or something.

She even signed it, he saw, at a glance, at the bottom.

He had the best daughters. Honestly, he just did.

It was the full length of the notebook paper, her note was, and in that super girly handwriting that he had no idea how chicks pulled off or where they learned it, even at young ages (except, as it was turning out, Murphy, who he was frequently getting notes sent home from his teacher about the sloppiness of her writing and how they should work on her with it; which they did, but it helped nothing, she was just him and they had to accept that), with all the dotted letters getting a little heart.

"You getting emotional there, Daddy?"

He didn't even glance up, as Steph came into the room, Bluto faithfully following along behind. He barked, once, the dog did, before going to fall in front of the desk and rest some while his mother came to stand behind her husband, arms moving to fall across his shoulders.

"Not...emotional, no," he grumbled, still not tilting his head back to stare up at her. Shifting a bit though, he angled the paper down, as if hiding it from her. "Uh, do you mind, woman?"

"What?" Steph frowned as he made it to where she couldn't clearly read it. "I wanna see what Aurora-"

"Did this note," he began as he folded it once more and finally stared up at her, "say anything about Mommy? Or Steph?" He didn't give her a chance to answer. "No. It did not. It was addressed to Daddy. Whose everybody in this house's daddy, Steph?"

"Ew, you think of yourself as my-"

"Absolutely."

"You're too much."

But still, their eyes meeting, they both said at the same time, "Whose your daddy now?", as they always did and always would, recalling the time he'd done this to her back during Armageddon '99.

"Even still," she was saying after a giggle for her and a grin from him, "I should get to read it."

"No way. It's mine. Between me and my daughter."

"Paul-"

"You're too nosey."

"I tell you everything. Including any cute things the kids do or give to me. So-"

"That's your fault for not treasuring it more." He waved the letter up at her. "This is going in my desk drawer, at the office, the locked one, that even you can't get in to."

"I can get in it," she said with a roll of her eyes as she stepped back from the chair then, slightly annoyed, regardless of their play. "If I wanted."

"How?"

"I'd tell you to give me the key and I'd be in it."

That was too true for even an attempt at a denial.

"Still going in there."

"And it can." Steph held out a hand. "After you let me read it."

Frowning, he placed it in her waiting palm before saying, "These sort of antics are the exact reason that I'm her favorite, just so you know."

"Hardly."

"Oh yeah? Then why did I get a note? And Ms. Stephanie McMahon got absolutely nothing?"

"Uh, Ms. McMahon got you the 30th entry, babe."

"But did she? Or did Triple H get it for himself? Because in that little letter there? According to Rora, Triple H is one of the best things left on RAW."

"She did not say that." She didn't even have to read it to know that. "Did she?"

"It's implied."

"Of course." But Steph was unfolding the note then, to get a peek at it herself.

As she read over it, lording herself over him in typical McMahon fashion, Paul looked to where he'd placed the little title belt sticker, on a scrap of paper, glad to find it at least was still sticky enough to stay on that. He knew his daughter would be happy to get it back.

Stephanie was mewling, above him, and at more than one point leaned over to show him some of the script, as if he hadn't just read over it himself, cooing frequently about how cute their oldest was.

Not that Aurora felt cute, he was sure, writing the note. She probably took it very seriously. To show Daddy how much she cared about him and just how proud she was of him.

Proud.

She literally used that word.

His nine year old was proud of him.

"Okay, this is definitely getting sent to your mother."

"Steph," Paul groaned at her words, frowning as she fished her phone out of her pocket, setting the notebook paper down on the corner of his desk so that she could get a good shot of it. "Honestly."

"What?"

He wasn't sure. For some reason, the man that could go out into a ring in front of millions of people each week in nothing more than a speedo, doing the most insanity provoking things, felt a bit...bashful over the letter.

Or perhaps more how he'd told her before. Possessive. As if it just staying between he and Aurora somehow made it more special.

"Just… Don't be all weird."

"I'm not." Snap. She didn't like the first photo and, with another snap, got a cleaner one. "It's going to my mom too."

Ugh.

"Can I have it back now? At least?" he asked as she turned a bit away from the desk, typing away at her phone. When she nodded, he snatched it right back up, wanting to read over it again. "I mean, sheesh, it was only written _specifically for me and no one else, at all_."

"When you share a daughter, Paul, you share all the cute moments that come from having her."

Heh.

His woman had an answer for everything.

For a moment or two, it was silent as he read over his note and she texted on her phone. Then, suddenly, Steph was done, apparently, as she turned to him once more.

"Now," she said as he glanced up, feeling her icy blues on him. Tone even, she asked lowly, "Are you ready to be treated like a champ, Hunter? Before you have to go play Daddy and pick up Vaughn from school?"

"I don't 'play' Daddy, Steph. I play Hunter."

"Well, you better get ready to play, because Hunter's about to miss his window of opportunity to drag some caring out of his wife."

If she really needed him to jump into the role, who was he to refuse?

Still, Vaughn only had half days at school and they really wanted to be the ones to pick her up, for Paul because he needed to explain just how he had _not_ cheated and Stephanie because she was heading into work not soon after and wanted some time with her. So their time alone together was stunted, but Paul couldn't recall an afternoon slot when it wasn't, and besides, both were thankful for what they got.

Always.

His youngest, however, wasn't so interested anymore with her daddy's title or, really, anything to do with him and Steph. Rather, she needed them to be a very captive audience as she shared what had been going on in her life since they last spoke.

For two performers, Steph and Paul were pretty good as being an audience though. And if Paul knew his wife the way he did (which was even better, after those things he'd done to her in the shower as they washed up before heading out to get their daughter), it was that she ate up any time their daughters shared their life with her.

But what possibly could have gone on in the life of a five year old in such a short amount of time?

Not a lot, one would think. If, you know, one was not the father of three daughters. Paul couldn't recall much from his grade school days, but he was certain that they were a lot less dramatic than his girls' could be.

Vaughn spent most of her afternoon explaining to Paul (and Steph before she left, all filled in and promising to listen to more over dinner) all about how one of her very best friends had insulted her drawing, which the teacher had actually picked to hang up on the wall, as her father tried many times to let her in on how this was just a life lesson about jealousy, but she wasn't having it.

Not that Paul put a lot of stock in her anger. Her and the little girl would be best friends, he was sure, by the next day.

While listening to her problems, they bounced back and forth between playing snuggle monster (he basically just cuddled her up in his arms and refused to let go, no matter how much she giggled and wiggled) and just laying around.

It was a very chill afternoon.

Err, well, the early half of it.

Eventually, of course, it was time to go get the other two from school.

Where he was bombarded with more chatter.

Murphy had gotten in trouble (again) for talking in class so he had to sign a little note that had gotten sent home and Aurora had a project that would be do the following Monday and she wanted to go _right then_ to the store to buy the supplies because she needed to get started immediately.

Which was fine. Paul had nothing better to do and it gave Murph and Vaughn a chance to pick out their own snack and stuff. Rora was annoying though, or at least annoyed her sisters, as she spent far too much time in the school supplies section of the store and not nearly enough trying to help them convince their father that yes, they should be allowed to eat an entire carton of ice cream for their snack.

Because, fine, Vaughn had that baby pull on the man and Murphy had that ignored middle child so just throw stuff at them quality, but Aurora had the most clout of them all.

If anyone could get them that carton of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, it was her.

Or their mother, when she had a craving of her own, and would leave some of it in the freezer for them to sneak late at night.

At that moment though, they didn't want late night sneaks. They wanted it for their snack!

But Rora was super concerned about getting everything she needed and didn't have time for their whines. She always saw herself as so much more mature than them and, at the moment, was stressing about something far more serious than stupid ice cream.

Not that Paul was giving in anyways. Mainly because he didn't feel like walking all the way over to the freezer section…

He did, after all, sort of have something he wanted to do when they got home.

Or at least watch get done.

Or revealed.

Or…

The right words didn't matter.

Except for the ones that he'd jotted down, somewhere between showering off with Steph and getting out the door to go get Vaughn, on a sheet of paper. One that he'd folded up and written _For Rora_ on before leaving it on his daughter's pillow.

He did have to borrow one of her stickers though, to seal it the way that she did hers, but he tried to make it one that looked new and unimportant.

Paul was pretty antsy about her seeing it, but for some reason, when they got home, she just wouldn't go upstairs to her room! It was annoying. He kept waiting around and hinting that she should, but she only sat at the dining room table, pushing her mother's very expensive table cloth out of the way, so that she could start on her project.

"Did you want help?" he asked, though it was with Murphy clinging to his back, trying to tackle him, as she claimed that she could down him in one move if she really wanted (he might have fallen for her, had she not gotten in trouble; her punishment as he deemed it was going to be forced to realize that there was no way, not even when he was in his eighties, could she truly bring him down if he didn't want her to). "At least? Or hey, I know, you go upstairs and take a nap and then work on your-"

"Go away," Aurora griped, making a face at him as Murphy jumped off his back, huffing more from his ignorance of the attention she was desperately craving, the elder of the two sister's mostly just confused as to why he was bothering her so much when she was doing her homework. "You guys aren't funny."

"I'm not being funny. I-"

"You can help me, Daddy." Vaughn was on the other end of the large dining table, no regard for her mother's table cloth as she tossed her backpack atop it before digging things out. "I got homework too!"

"Do you really need help to just write your ABCs?" Murphy teased, still annoyed that Paul was ignoring her. "Huh?"

Not perceptive in the slightest, Vaughn nodded. "Gotta do it five times! Come help me."

Ugh. That is _not_ what Paul was hoping would happen.

Even when she took a break from her project (seriously, she had all weekend; he wondered if his worth ethic was as strong as hers, or he just truly loved his job and therefore pushed himself through procrastination), it was only because they all wanted to take Bluto for a walk. He tried to goad her into going to get her heavy coat from her bedroom, but she had the jacket she'd worn to school and, well, apparently things just weren't meant to go his way.

Or poor Bluto's. He was not a young dog anymore. The last thing he wanted to do was go for a walk out in the cold. He got all the walking he needed in when he did his nightly rounds of the grounds, tracking down any and all intruders.

Like squirrels.

Ugh. He hated them.

Paul had actually shifted his attention by the time his daughter went up to her room, some hours later. They were back in the house and he was actually in his office, taking care of some stuff from home, while Vaughn played with some toys on the floor in front of his desk, when he heard someone running down the stairs.

"No running!" he yelled at whoever it was (he was actually guessing Murphy; she'd suffered the falls to prove that she had no intentions of ever following said rule) though he continued to type on his laptop, Vaughn giggle from the ground. To her, he said, "She never learns."

But it wasn't his middle daughter that only continued to run, right to the office (though he was certain that she was off doing something equally as bad, somewhere else), but rather his oldest. And, narrowly missing stepping on Vaughn, Aurora came right over to his desk.

"You wrote me a letter back!"

He was a bit shocked, actually, just from her not being Murphy (seriously, the girl was constantly running around the house, just to get his attention seemingly) and only blinked a bit. Then, slowly, he grinned.

"Of course I did," he said as she came around to desk to toss her arms around him, the letter in question still in his hands. "You wrote me one. I think you're just as awesome as you think I am."

"I never called you awesome," she said against his shoulder as she nuzzled against it. "Daddy."

"It was implied."

"You wrote Rora a note?" Vaughn was popping up to investigate. "Let me see!"

She didn't let he father go, but did spare her younger sister a glare. "No. You'll rip it or something."

"Will not!"

"And you can't even read it."

"I read very good! Right, Daddy?"

"Vaughn, Daddy will get you a note too, okay?" He knew how Aurora felt. Everyone in their family was constantly wanting to share everything. It could get very annoying. "This one is Rora's. If she wants to let you see it, she can."

"But I wanna hear it at least!" She wasn't one that took no easily. "Daddy-"

"Hold on," he cut her off as his phone vibrated in his pocket. Keeping one arm around his oldest, he pulled it out before saying, "It's Steph."

She was concerned, of course, with dinner and that was all great and everything, but Paul had already put his time in with her; he was trying to soak up the letter time.

"I need to talk to her right now!" Rora told him as he was in the middle of listening to Steph drone on about traffic or something (he was hardly listening by then; she had a horrible habit of just calling him when she was bored in the car alone and wanted some company), so he readily gave the phone over to his girls, Vaughn crowding around it too, before getting back to his laptop.

"Mommy, listen." Aurora sat down, on the floor, with Vaughn's toys, and her youngest sister came to fall down too. "Dad wrote me a letter back! You wanna hear it?"

Paul was pretty sure Steph would listen to Vaughn's nonsense about the drawing again, just so long as she was getting to talk to someone.

She was horrible about driving alone.

"I do," Vaughn whispered, not sure if she was supposed to or not, but definitely wanting to.

Paul, however, felt kind of funny about listening to them all act silly over something so dumb, and only got up to go check on Murphy.

Who, actually, was kind of behaving. He'd told her that she wasn't allowed to watch TV, since she got in trouble at school, and she was, but it was better than some of her typical alternatives to pass the time.

"What are Rora and Vaughn doing?" she asked suspiciously when, as more punishment, he ordered her to help him take out all the trash that had been piling up before their mother got home.

"Bragging on how great a father I am."

Murphy, who was piddling around the kitchen more than helping, only made a face. "That's because you don't make them take out trash."

"Believe me," he grumbled with a shake of his head, "I feel your struggle, kid."

Paul never complained though, when he was actually able to be home and eat dinner with his kids. Plus his wife too. Even if the conversation was dictated between Vaughn's very grating story (he'd heard it a thousand times by that point) and Steph's scolding of Murphy who kept looking to him, as if he could save her, but he only shrugged every time she did so.

Listening to how annoying it was to hear someone talk too much was actually kind of the perfect punishment, given the situation.

"We haven't even talked," Steph said, eventually, when she got tired of hearing her own voice (yeah, right), "about Daddy winning the title yet. Do you guys not care?"

"I care." Aurora, who'd mostly been bored with the dinner topics, sat up real tall then and grinned over at her father. He returned it easily.

"Thank-"

"If he didn't cheat," his youngest said with a nod of her head, "then maybe."

"You know-" he started again, but that time, Murphy cut him off.

"A real champ don't need to be bragged 'bout," she said with a frown. "He takes pride in himself. That's what Pop says."

Making a face, Paul informed her, "He just says that because no one's ever actually cared to brag on him."

"Paul-"

"Tell us about winning, Daddy." Aurora bounced a bit, in her seat, staring at him expectantly. "Please."

"Well, if no one but you wants to hear-"

"I literally was the one that just brought it up," his wife said with a roll of her eyes. "Drama queen."

"I am not a-"

"I wanna hear, Daddy." Murphy gave him a bright smile, but he knew it was only to hide the fact that, really, she wanted the topic to stay on anything and everything not pertaining to her being lectured. "All about it!"

Nodding, Vaughn said, "To see if you cheated."

"He didn't." And Aurora sent Vaughn a glare for that, finally done with the accusation. "He didn't need to."

"Right," Paul said with a nod of his head. Steph snorted, taking a sip from her drink.

"I mean, his wife securing him the final number helped," she remarked. "But let's just skip over that."

"Your part," he grumbled, "doesn't exist, Steph, except in your own mind. Hunter got the number himself. He can do that now. He's as powerful as you. Accept it."

"Not remotely true, but sure."

" _Anyways_ ," he insisted, as he was sure that he and Steph's banter not only wasn't entertaining to the girls, but also a bit over their heads, "the point is that I come in at number 30, right?"

And if there was anything that Paul was good at, it was telling his daughters stories. Even with old, trite one's he'd told before, he always managed to keep their attention.

They were good about going to bed that night, trying all to be on their best behavior, as they knew that they wouldn't be seeing him at all Thursday, save before school, so they didn't want him to be mad at them before then.

There was a bit of a gripe, because it was starting to sink in to Murphy that Aurora, clearly, got something they hadn't in that note, and he had to promise her (and Vaughn again) that he'd write them something nice too, if they really wanted.

Which they did.

Honestly, daughters were just too much to deal with at times.

Rora was the last of them to go to bed, as always, and even though he needed to get downstairs, to workout for the night, he lingered for a moment when he was telling her goodnight, actually tucking her in for the first time in at least a year (because it was for babies, she claimed frequently; just saying goodnight was fine).

Still, he hung around that night, making sure she got into bed and even to bend over and kiss her head.

A good sport about it for once, she only grinned up at him as she said, "I'm really happy that you won."

With a nod, he said, "And I'm really glad that you wrote me that note. It was a really nice thing to do, you know. I...really liked hearing that you were happy I won. I mean, I knew you would be, but… A lot of people aren't."

She made a face. She knew that. She didn't like that, but she knew that.

"Then they're stupid."

He was probably supposed to correct her on name-calling, but how could he when he was nodding his head and saying, "I concur. Morons. I deserve a title all the time." That got her to smile and, with that, he patted her on the head before saying, "Now I gotta go downstairs and workout. You come get us if you need somethin', huh?"

"Wait, Daddy." She grabbed his hand too as he turned to walk away. Giving her a frown, he only stared as she looked up at him for a moment, taking a breath before saying, "I really liked your letter too...is all."

"Oh." Reaching out with his other hand, he brushed back her brown hair before saying, "Then I'll write you more."

"Really?"

"Of course." With a grin, he said, "All you had to do was ask, princess."

Besides, he might as well, considering he was gonna be stuck figuring out something to write to the other two...why not make a habit out of it?

Sigh.

You do one sweet thing and they expect you to be that way constantly.

Still, it got Aurora to smile and lay back down, so, with one last kiss to her head, he left her alone for the night.

Or at least until he did his check in after the workout.

"Slacker much?" Steph teased as he came down the stairs to find her carrying a water bottle out of the kitchen, no doubt headed to the gym as well, to wait on Joe, their trainer. "Trying to punk out, Paul?"

"Last time I checked," he said as he rushed to catch her, "you're getting into this gym at the same time as me, babe."

"Still was downstairs first though."

"Mmmm."

"Now that you're champ, Hunter," she chided as he gave her a look, "I can't have you slacking off, you know. You need to retain this title."

"Long enough to drop it. Right."

"It's the tale of the business, sure." Steph glanced back at him, making one of her awkward faces that he found so cute, though he'd rarely tell her. Maybe he should write it in a letter...snort. "But at least we get all those sexy screen caps of you slinging the title around. And wearing it around your waist. And just you, in general."

"Glad I can be of service, Steph."

"Believe me," she giggled as, before they started down the steps to their basement, he caught her arm and gave her a chaste kiss, "you have no idea."

* * *

 **This came from a request where Steph said in an interview that they didn't tell Aurora that Paul was gonna win the title at the Rumble and got a cute video of her being all excited about it and then she wrote him a letter after (I'm assuming because he wouldn't be home to talk to for a few days, which is where I got this idea from).**

 **You guys are pretty damn great, sending me all these different interviews and stuff, because I really did miss all this. I stopped watching before the whole Authority arc started, so I missed all this and any interviews surrounding it. Which then forced me to go look up this year's Rumble (or at least watch some clips) and what was going on around then. So if you guys got anymore that you want to send me that you have a request from, or just a request for anything at all, I'm always taking them.**

 **Just a bit slow about getting to all of them, is all…**


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